Десятников в Берлине: о музыке, свободе и Израиле

Our guest today is Leonid Desyatnikov, one of the most recognizable contemporary composers. His music has been performed at the Bolshoi Theatre, La Scala, and in films around the world. He is the author of the opera "The Children of Rosenthal," numerous chamber and orchestral works, as well as film scores for "His Wife's Diary," "Sunset," "Van Goghs," and others. We met in Berlin at the Voices Berlin festival, where the composer premiered his new work, "An Attempt to Ascend." Our conversation focused on freedom and self-irony, honesty and fragility in music, melodies born from life, and why being a living composer today is a feat in itself. 00:00:00 — Start of the broadcast 00:01:38 — Why Berlin: Voices Berlin festival and the premiere of An Attempt to Ascend 00:02:08 — Happy 70th birthday: How the anniversary concerts in Israel went 00:08:44 — New work: "not a cantata", three movements (Russian/Ukrainian/Hebrew), general theme; text by Pyatigorsky 00:11:12 — How the idea and commission were born: repatriation, meeting with Sergei Nevsky and Marina Davydova 00:13:02 — "Independent Voices": What is independence in music according to Desyatnikov 00:15:08 — About the Zafraan ensemble and a possible "clash of languages" 00:16:44 — Why "ascension": an allusion to aliyah; Premiere: October 25th at Radialsystem 00:20:46 — "Being a living composer is a feat": old-fashion and the place of melody today 00:22:22 — Quotes and memes in music: not a parody, but an homage and an "earworm" 00:33:08 — What Israel sounds like: birds, swearing, dogs, and sirens; the sea — "in Greece" 00:34:45 — The opera "The Dybbuk": why it wasn't staged; The opera genre today and "director-opera" 00:37:54 — Ethical boundaries: writing about October 7th is not yet allowed—"too close" 00:39:18 — Conclusion of the conversation: Polina Osetinskaya's quote on Desyatnikov's music 00:41:11 — In parting—a duet between Polina Osetinskaya and Elena Revich, a track from "Sunset" 00:42:05 — Farewell and thanks 📌 Useful links: Our website: https://radio-rb.de/ Listen to the audio version: https://radio-rb.de/podcasts Don't forget to subscribe, like 👍, and leave a comment!